Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I take the point the Chair is making, but it is a different point from saying a new force majeure would be considered at the review panel stage, at the very final point. When people get to that very final point, that review panel stage, they are appealing on the basis of a point of fact or a point of law. That point of fact could be, for example, that they do not believe that force majeure is being applied appropriately and, in terms of the initial appeals officer's decision, that he did not apply force majeure appropriately. They are then going to the review panel saying, "We do not believe force majeure was properly treated here." However, as for the idea that a new, separate force majeure would be set up and, at the very final point of the appeals system, introduce basically a new ground for appeal, the whole thing is basically starting over again then. It has gone through the whole appeals system but that now, at the very end, a new type of force majeure can be considered. That would be different. That is not the purpose of the review panel.

As regards that issue, two points need to be considered. It needs to be considered what the grounds for force majeure are in the first instance, as regards the terms and conditions of the schemes, that is, that the force majeure terms and conditions are being got right. The next piece is not only the review, which can be done in the Department, but also the appeal, which is done by an appeals officer, who is then able to consider the appeal against the force majeure criteria. That is where the force majeure gets applied or not. If it is not applied correctly by the appeals officer, there is the option to appeal to this new review panel to say, "We do not believe the appeals officer made a correct decision based on the force majeure criteria."